Indonesia's next president has a military past

Indonesia's General Elections Commission (KPU) officially declared Prabowo Subianto the winner of February's election, making the former general with ties to the Suharto dictatorship president-elect of the world's third-largest democracy. 

Subianto and running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the son of popular outgoing President Joko Widodo, won 58.6% of the vote, according to the KPU.

Opponents Anies Baswedan, a former governor of Jakarta, and former Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo, came in at 24.9% and 16.5%, respectively.

Indonesia's new president will be inaugurated on October 20, and a Cabinet will need to be appointed within two weeks.

In his victory speech Wednesday, Subianto lauded the "smooth and orderly" election.

Baswedan and Pranowo have yet to concede, and said they planned to challenge the results in court, alleging fraud and irregularities. However, successfully challenging such a wide margin of victory will be difficult.

Subianto lost presidential elections in 2014 and 2019 to Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, and unsuccessfully challenged the losses.

Jokowi added Subianto to his Cabinet as defense minister after his 2019 reelection, paving the way for a detente, despite their rival parties.

This time around, Subianto's opponents are arguing that that his 36-year-old running mate, Gibran, did not meet the constitutional age requirement to run for office.

Including Jokowi's son on the presidential ticket was seen as a campaign tactic to ride on Jokowi's immense popularity.

During the campaign, Subianto softened his image, dispensing with images of a horseback-riding former general used in the 2019 campaign, and instead dancing and entertaining his audience on national television.

An elite pedigree

While Jokowi maintained an image as a working-class leader from a modest background, Subianto comes from one of Indonesia's wealthiest and most politically influential families.

He was born in 1951, one of four children of prominent economist Sumitro Djojohadikusumo, who held multiple ministerial positions, including finance minister under Indonesia's first president, Sukarno, and minister of trade under his successor, Suharto.

Subianto's family lived in exile after his father fell out with Sukarno in the late 1950s, and was educated in Malaysia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

After Sukarno was removed from power, Sumitro was invited to return from exile and was appointed minister of trade in 1967 under the president and dictator Suharto.

In 1970, Subianto joined the Indonesian Military Academy, and was considered a rising star, eventually going on to lead an elite special forces unit, Kopassus.

During this time, Subianto also became an ally of Suharto's, and was the former dictator's son-in-law for 15 years.

Accusations of human rights abuses

Subianto has been accused of overseeing torture, human rights abuses and forced disappearances during the final years of the Suharto regime.

In 1998, months before Suharto resigned, troops under Subianto's command were accused of kidnapping and torturing democracy activists.

Although he never faced trial, and has denied any involvement, Subianto was discharged from the military later that year, following the accusations.

Several of Subianto's men were tried and convicted for their involvement, and Subianto was banned from traveling to the United States until he was appointed defense minister in 2020.

Challenges ahead

Along with reforming his image, challenges for Subianto in the coming years include maintaining Jokowi's modernization campaign, dealing with a global economic slowdown, and balancing ties with the United States and China amid regional tensions in the South China Sea.

Hikmahanto Juwana, an international law professor from the University of Indonesia, told DW that Subianto is likely to continue Jokowi's policy of not recognizing China's sweeping territorial claims in the South China Sea.

"I don't think that China will behave too aggressively towards Indonesia as they do with the Philippines," Hikmahanto said.

"China knows that they have significant interests in Indonesia, both in terms of investment and trade," he said. "So, they might act with more caution."

On the domestic front, Subianto has said he will continue Jokowi's promises to build infrastructure and continue expanding the production of Indonesia's natural resources for global markets. This includes plans to locally process nickel used for electric car batteries.

Subianto also campaigned on a promise to distribute free lunches and milk for schools, a program that could benefit more than 80 million people by 2029. 

Eliza Mardian, a Jakarta-based economic analyst, told DW that the program will require "additional funds beyond the usual expenses" and is concerned about public debt problems with funding Subianto's populist programs.

C. Andhika S. in Jakarta contributed to this report

Written with material from the Associated Press 

Edited by: Wesley Rahn